Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

This giveaway hop is for a very awesome reason – it celebrates our freedom to read!! Banned Books Week is an annual celebration that’s typically held the last week in September. I’m not sure who the mastermind behind it all but I found most of my information on ALA’s website. In a nutshell, ALA uses this week to raise awareness of censorship and promote the freedom to read.

When I started looking into Banned Books Week, I was completely blow away by the names of some of the books that are what they call “Frequently Challenged”. These are books that people are attempting to ban from our communities.

You know what the number one challenged book was between 2000-2009? Well, duh… It was Harry Potter, as in the entire series!! (source: ALA.org Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books 2000-2009 – please go there and check it out yourself!!! The list will blow you away!!!).

Seriously? Harry Potter?!?! Grown-ups can’t explain to their kids that magic is make-believe?? I could go on for hours about this but I won’t.

There’s another reason why I wanted to participate in this giveaway hop – my freaking hometown tried to ban a book!!! My hometown is on the ALA.org website!!!

… In 1974, five residents of Strongsville, OH, sued the board of education to remove the novel. Labeling it “pornographic,” they charged the novel “glorifies criminal activity, has a tendency to corrupt juveniles and contains descriptions of bestiality, bizarre violence, and torture, dismemberment, death, and human elimination.”

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Go figure…

For more great information on Banned Books Week, go check out ALA’s entire section of their website devoted to Banned Books Week.

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I’m giving away a $15 Gift Card to Amazon or $15 worth of books from Book Depository. If you’re international, you must be able to accept delivery from Book Depository.a Rafflecopter giveawayNow would be an awesome time to go visit all the beautiful blogs spreading Banned Books Week love…

About Kristin

Kristin has to ensure she gets her minimal requirement of "happily ever after" books in between those books that contain cliffhangers and never-ending story arcs. It's for her family's sake. When not reading, she's homeshooling her 10-year old son, watching cartoons on TV, or taking a nap.

163 responses to “Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop”

Yes, when I was in school Tom Sawyer was on the banned books lists, our teacher knew it but we read it anyway. I have read almost all the classics on the banned list. It is an outrage to me that anyone would ban a book.kimbacaffeinate recently posted…Felice’s Worlds by Henry Massie

I don’t remember reading any banned books in school, but my 10 year old son has read Harry Potter 1 & 2 and is working on #3 and has taken AR Tests on them.Donna/Happy Booker recently posted…The Cozy Reader’s Blogfest Giveaway

We read To Kill A Mockingbird and the Outsiders in 9th grade. I remember the teacher having to send home a note to let your parents know. Nobody opted out in my class, but I can remember my brother telling me he had a couple in his.

I think we didn`t read any banned books in school… We read Anna Karenina, The Bridge on The Drina, The Old Man and The Sea, Crime and Punishment, Romeo & Juliet, etc…but, I didn’t find any that is listed on ALA.org website…Marijana Sitar recently posted…Fan-Made Catching Fire Movie Poster

I read books in my free time that probably would’ve been banned.. lol. But for school… I remember reading Lord of the Flies, which I actually liked.Christy recently posted…Review: Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Yes, I’ve read many at school. At the time I didnt know they’d been banned. I acutally didnt realize they were until recently lol. But to name a few: Of Mice and Men (also watched both movies as a class) , To Kill a Mockingbird (also watched the movie as a class), The Outsiders, The Pigman, The Color Purple, Killing Mr. Griffin, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Great Gatsby (also watched the movie as a class) , Gone With the Wind (also watched the movie as a class), . And with these last two, I’m not sure if they’re banned or challenged, but due to some of the subject matter in the books I’m thinking they have been at some point: One Hundred Years of Solitude, and My Darling, My Hamburger. There have been many others as well that I had to read in school. The ones I’ve listed were either read together as a class, or on my required reading lists for solo reading/extra credit reading lists. (Nikki Marie on rafflecopter)

I read so many of the classics on the banned books list while in high school. I read Catch-22, The Color Purple, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and many more.

Oh my, yes! I’ve read MANY banned books, both for school and in my leisure time! To Kill a Mockingbird, The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, The Awakening, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Grapes of Wrath…I could go on and on and on! All the greatest classics seem to have been banned – most definitely challenged – at one point or another! What amazes me most is that people continue to try and challenge books in this day and age… it kind of astounds me, actually.

An extract of Lord of the Flies was on the curriculum one year, and I didn’t like it much. Since then, I’ve read the whole book, and while I didn’t like it, as it creeped me out, and I definitely can see why someone would want to ban it, but everyone should be able to make that choice for himself.

When I went to school, it was prohibited to read banned books. I grew up in Soviet Union, where the list of banned books was thicker than thickest books ever written. When the system started to change at the end of 80s, then I got access to banned books, it was easier to get your hands into forbidden books. Nowadays, you can read everything. It went from one extreme to another. You can buy /read/publish any books and there are no limits. Only freedon of speech and freedom of choice and I like that.Inga Kupp-Silberg recently posted…Review of The Goddaughter by Melodie Campbell – 5 stars!

I don’t know what books may have been banned when I was in high school 50 years ago. I do know that we read To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, 1984 and a couple of others. And many of the books that were on our summer reading lists seem to be on the banned list now. How peculiar. Life is not always wonderful and neither are people. If school children are kept in ignorance of these facts, how are they supposed to cope when they are presented with them in real life? Surely many of these books were intended to expose unsatisfactory social conditions and if children are guided in their reading of these works it would be beneficial? Banning books is ridiculous. Discussing these books is good.

I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird for school, it appears on the challenged/banned lists but I don’t think anything like that ever happened in my country. Thank you for the giveaway. 🙂Isa recently posted…Labour Day Read-a-thon Updates

I read way too many on that list to put down on here… the funny thing is that I read some in gradeschool, some in highschool…but all were read while I attended private Catholic schools and had nuns for teachers. This was in the mid-late 80’s… so apparently those nuns were a bit more progressive than people give them credit for being 🙂

i remember reading judy blume during school and i remember that my teacher really didn’t like her and yet she let me decide, i really liked what i read!
lord of the flies, we had to read, and must admit that at that time i didn’t like it at all, now i think it’s brilliant, scary and so close to what we can become!
thanks for the giveaway

I’ve read To Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Brave New World, Of Mice and Men, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Grapes of Wrath in school. I had no idea at the time that they were banned in some places, nor did it ever occur to me that there anyone would find something objectionable about them!

In high school, we read, created projects, and took tests over To Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath. We were also required every quarter to read a book on an assigned list and write a book report on said book. It was from this list that I chose and read 1984, Of Mice and Men and Catcher in the Rye. When I was in junior high school, we had an entire unit on The Outsiders as well.

I’ve read a few actually. I’ve read Catch 22, Bridge to Terabithia, The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird. Bridge to Terabithia, The Outsiders, and To Kill a Mockingbird were read as a class and we did whole lessons over them and watched the movies to go along with them as well. I was in fourth grade when my teacher read Bridge to Terabithia to my class. I was in fourth grade 10 years ago… haha.

We actually studied a little bit of Harry Potter in school, and then there was The Great Gatsby, and summer reading included To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye. Thanks for the amazing giveaway!!Rabiah recently posted…Fangs, Fur & Fey Giveaway Hop!

I’ve had to read multiple of the books on that banned book list in school, including: The chocolate war, I know why the caged bird sings, of mice and men, the adventures of huckleberry finn, to kill a mockingbird, the giver, brave new world, the kite runner, and Julie of the wolves

I’ve read tons of banned books in school. Well, I have no idea whats popularly banned in Canada, but some of the often controversial ones I guess were The Giver, The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World, Catcher in the Rye etc. As far as I know my school didnt have any particular rules about this.

I think most of the books I had on my required reading list were ‘banned’ according to those lists (but I was in a private high school so they were not subject to as many regulations as public schools are). Off the top of my head I remember Catcher in the Rye, Handmaiden’s Tale, Slaughterhouse Five, The Great Gatsby – I’m sure there were more, but that is just what I can remember right now.

We read a ton of banned books in my English classes- The Bean Trees, Fallen Angels, To Kill a Mockingbird, Slaughterhouse Five, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, The Giver, Bless Me Ultima, and more. Actually looking through the lists I think every book we read my Sophomore year was banned.

Several of the books that were required reading in my high school English classes were on the list. To Kill A Mockingbird, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Great Gatsby… I’m sure their are others. I’m actually quite surprised by this since I grew up in Jerry Falwell’s town LOL.

My high school gifted/English teacher (had her for all four years) was very subversive, so we read a ton of banned books: Bridge to Terebithia, To Kill a Mockingbird, and a Handmaid’s Tale just to name a few (which happen to be personal favorites). My love of dystopia came from that teacher long before the YA dystopian train came rolling along.

I read several books that are on the banned list at school, in two classes particularly, and although I don’t remember knowing they were banned at the time, I wonder if the teachers did. In eighth grade, our whole grade read And Then There Were None (which I’m sure is banned somewhere even if it is AMAZING). We then had to choose two of several books. I chose The Giver and The Day No Pigs Would Die, both on the banned list. Others to choose from included Go Ask Alice and The Outsiders, also on the list. My junior year in high school we read The Jungle, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, and Huckleberry Finn which are of course all on the banned list. Considering I went to such a small town school I’m quite amazed how many books from the banned list I actually read IN school.

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I review books. I'm not paid for my reviews in any way, shape or form. I do get books for free in exchange for my reviews but no one wants to pay me for my opinion, I'm not that important. And my opinion won't be influenced, no matter how much Prozac I take. Besides, a lot of the books I review I buy... with my husband's hard earned money.

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